Thesubject of this project is the development of a computer program that assists in the preliminary
selection of wooden beams for residential scale buildings. It is a useful project because
the program is intended to assist the architectural designer; it does not provide
comprehensive engineering. With this purpose in mind, the intention is to simplify the process
of sizing wooden members, to generate graphic visualization, and to make clear the analytic
and decision making process incorporated in the program’s construction. The user is presumed
to be a designer or architectural student.

Efforts towards the design of the program have been aimed at making the software effective
for designers and students. This project deals with such issues as logical sequence or flow,
decision points, and conceptual organization of display screens for the purpose of focusing
the users attention on vital information.